Wonder when the last time was you cried when your boss handed you your pay because you were so grateful for the job that provided for your family. They have something similar to a Christmas bonus or new year bonus or something like that here and when I paid this sweet lady named Elbia today and there was extra there, (which amounted to about $35) she put her head in her hands had tears running down her cheeks, kissed my forehead and thanked me at least 3 times.
So thank YOU for your support to pay for this sweet ladies help. I don't pay her, you do. She is not only a blessing here in this place and great help...she is again today a lesson to me in gratitude and the blessings that we have become far too accustomed to to remember to be grateful for.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
I Have Tried...
I promise you no less than 20 times to post pictures from Christmas around this place, and for some reason it is being very contrary and they WILL NOT post...so I will continue to try and I apologize. We had a terrific day. Lots of giggling and joy around this place.
I will share more with you soon. When you can see their faces for yourselves in the pictures.
Feliz Navidad!!
I will share more with you soon. When you can see their faces for yourselves in the pictures.
Feliz Navidad!!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
A New Look...
Ok so as you can see decided to switch things up a bit. My eyes were starting to get a bit tired of the same look and so decided we'd go with this for a while. I like the lighthouse and the symbolism it gives me of my purpose in this world. So I'll continue to post and all other stuff will be the same, except I added a new section on the left under the link section called "Other Stuff I Read." I have stumbled across some really neat stuff on the web since I've been here looking for ways to continue to get fed by good teaching and reading and organizations that resonate with my heart. I will add more soon, but for now these three were really easy. Go exploring you'll enjoy it.
One bit of advice, the James and Betty Robinson tab...if you go under television and then webcasts you'll find all sorts of archived shows that you can view from your computer and there are some great ones in there.
Blessings. I'll post some pictures of the kiddo's soon. We opened some presents with Marc before he left and it was a hoot!! I'll share them soon I promise.
One bit of advice, the James and Betty Robinson tab...if you go under television and then webcasts you'll find all sorts of archived shows that you can view from your computer and there are some great ones in there.
Blessings. I'll post some pictures of the kiddo's soon. We opened some presents with Marc before he left and it was a hoot!! I'll share them soon I promise.
Monday, December 18, 2006
New Addition...
So Santa Claus has come to town and Christmas week has begun and our kiddo's are getting spoiled rotten. Today "Abuello Marcos" showed up with a boxer puppy. He is sooooooooooooo cute!!! We're trying to come up with names right now...anyone got any good ideas?? By the way we needed a new dog cause little Miss Puddles got hit in the road a few weeks ago and she has passed on to doggy heaven!!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Servanthood...
Silent servants... I am so touched by them right now...perhaps you are familiar with the type I'm talking about.
The ones who put $200 dollars into your checking account without you knowing it and expect no fanfare or hype and honestly are somewhat uncomfortable with a thank you. That never was their motivation.
The ones who walk up to you a few days after you have given a presentation in which you mentioned your friend who begs in the middle of the street and who has one leg amputated at the knee, and therefore permanently uses crutches...who watched intently enough with a servants eyes to know that he needed a new pair and so gave me a pair to give to him.
The ones who at 16 or 17 years old come up with an idea to help raise money for what you're doing, totally unbeknownst to you, and walk up and hand you an envelope with almost $400 in it because they've had a baleada dinner at their church and want you to use the money. (Just so happens it was the perfect amount to be able to pay off a lawyer bill to complete my residency to allow me to stay in the country to help these kids and came at a PERFECT time after I had been praying ok God please come up with this somewhere, please. He chooses the most perfect servants at the most perfect times.)
Or the sweet lady who read on my blog that I had given a little boy my jacket and so showed up with a new one in a gift bag for me when she came to my presentation. The heart of a servant looking for ways to give.
The ones who when you have a sick little guy in the hospital and are sick yourself, come out every night and help you take care of the rest of these precious kiddo's, and NEVER once complain even when they're drinking tie dye or various other craziness.
The ones who spend hours and hours preparing a meal at their home for 10 kiddo's who have never seen a feast like this in their entire life...who takes each minute as it comes with broken Christmas tree bulbs and spilled you name it...and lavishes love through her quiet servanthood.
Or the person who while you're home shows up at nearly every presentation out of approximately 10, no matter how many times they may have heard everything you've said and will say again, and when encouraged to not come or to leave early responds with an "I'm right where I want to be." And then when you're away sits down every day to remind you you're covered in prayer and in love. Who faithfully promises to hold up weary arms some days and chants from those knees in prayers I am confident of..."you can do this, come on lift your head up, God is faithful!!"
The gentleman who showed up for one day to visit at church and it just so happened to be the day I was giving a 10 minute presentation and came up afterward and handed me a business card and asked me to get him information on where he could send money to help. A few days later he sent $1000 to support this ministry. I know little more about this precious man than his name. I am humbled however by his servanthood.
Or the gal that I work with in this ministry who gives and gives and gives more than most people will ever know until she's exhausted and then gets up the next day to do it again. Who in some moments believes she's not doing it so well right now in the middle of hectic and hard, but who gave up her life to be here doing it and loves on these children with giftedness to do so. She humbles me often.
I could go on and on and on right now, I really could, and this fails to do justice, I've only picked a snippet from a huge selection of stories. Let's just say that my feet are so spankin clean cause they've just been in the basin so many times by so many different people recently. Most often I am just standing with my mouth open thinking I do not deserve this. (Oh come on, you know the feeling, it's the same way you feel when your feet are in there.) My jaw is dropped and within just a few seconds I find myself on my knees. It's a place I've become a whole lot more familiar with over the past year, for various reasons, but one I'm becoming extremely familiar with is humbled. God and I meet there often because of silent servants who have shown up at the perfect time, probably totally without them knowing there was the need and yet were a testament in huge ways of God's faithfulness.
Not only that, but they have been great teachers in the beauty of servanthood when most of the rest of the world knows nothing about it. They have reminded me the value of invisibility when it comes to sacrifice and serving, and more than even the money or the gifts or the "stuff" I am grateful to you all for what you've taught my heart.
I would publicly thank you here, but that just wouldn't be the point now would it. That was never what you were after. And I will in no way taint the purity of how you've learned to give.
I am honored and humbled and this heart thanks all of you who took the time to get on your knees put a towel around your waist and serve in the ways of Your Master. You've touched me!!
The ones who put $200 dollars into your checking account without you knowing it and expect no fanfare or hype and honestly are somewhat uncomfortable with a thank you. That never was their motivation.
The ones who walk up to you a few days after you have given a presentation in which you mentioned your friend who begs in the middle of the street and who has one leg amputated at the knee, and therefore permanently uses crutches...who watched intently enough with a servants eyes to know that he needed a new pair and so gave me a pair to give to him.
The ones who at 16 or 17 years old come up with an idea to help raise money for what you're doing, totally unbeknownst to you, and walk up and hand you an envelope with almost $400 in it because they've had a baleada dinner at their church and want you to use the money. (Just so happens it was the perfect amount to be able to pay off a lawyer bill to complete my residency to allow me to stay in the country to help these kids and came at a PERFECT time after I had been praying ok God please come up with this somewhere, please. He chooses the most perfect servants at the most perfect times.)
Or the sweet lady who read on my blog that I had given a little boy my jacket and so showed up with a new one in a gift bag for me when she came to my presentation. The heart of a servant looking for ways to give.
The ones who when you have a sick little guy in the hospital and are sick yourself, come out every night and help you take care of the rest of these precious kiddo's, and NEVER once complain even when they're drinking tie dye or various other craziness.
The ones who spend hours and hours preparing a meal at their home for 10 kiddo's who have never seen a feast like this in their entire life...who takes each minute as it comes with broken Christmas tree bulbs and spilled you name it...and lavishes love through her quiet servanthood.
Or the person who while you're home shows up at nearly every presentation out of approximately 10, no matter how many times they may have heard everything you've said and will say again, and when encouraged to not come or to leave early responds with an "I'm right where I want to be." And then when you're away sits down every day to remind you you're covered in prayer and in love. Who faithfully promises to hold up weary arms some days and chants from those knees in prayers I am confident of..."you can do this, come on lift your head up, God is faithful!!"
The gentleman who showed up for one day to visit at church and it just so happened to be the day I was giving a 10 minute presentation and came up afterward and handed me a business card and asked me to get him information on where he could send money to help. A few days later he sent $1000 to support this ministry. I know little more about this precious man than his name. I am humbled however by his servanthood.
Or the gal that I work with in this ministry who gives and gives and gives more than most people will ever know until she's exhausted and then gets up the next day to do it again. Who in some moments believes she's not doing it so well right now in the middle of hectic and hard, but who gave up her life to be here doing it and loves on these children with giftedness to do so. She humbles me often.
I could go on and on and on right now, I really could, and this fails to do justice, I've only picked a snippet from a huge selection of stories. Let's just say that my feet are so spankin clean cause they've just been in the basin so many times by so many different people recently. Most often I am just standing with my mouth open thinking I do not deserve this. (Oh come on, you know the feeling, it's the same way you feel when your feet are in there.) My jaw is dropped and within just a few seconds I find myself on my knees. It's a place I've become a whole lot more familiar with over the past year, for various reasons, but one I'm becoming extremely familiar with is humbled. God and I meet there often because of silent servants who have shown up at the perfect time, probably totally without them knowing there was the need and yet were a testament in huge ways of God's faithfulness.
Not only that, but they have been great teachers in the beauty of servanthood when most of the rest of the world knows nothing about it. They have reminded me the value of invisibility when it comes to sacrifice and serving, and more than even the money or the gifts or the "stuff" I am grateful to you all for what you've taught my heart.
I would publicly thank you here, but that just wouldn't be the point now would it. That was never what you were after. And I will in no way taint the purity of how you've learned to give.
I am honored and humbled and this heart thanks all of you who took the time to get on your knees put a towel around your waist and serve in the ways of Your Master. You've touched me!!
Friday, December 15, 2006
I Just Wonder...
Sometimes I just wonder what might happen if we would fall so in love with Jesus and his causes, and want to live pursuing holiness so desperately, that we might lead people to Jesus (as opposed to leading them to church or our set of rules for how to do church), that we might live passionately and purposefully so that all who may be watching would see that we conduct our lives for Him, and we might provide them a Bible (and trust God's Word to be living and active and sharp enough to penetrate a heart and teach and correct and all of those things), and then we might give them the freedom to explore their own relationship with Christ without our own agenda's or prejudices interfering with the purity of the gospel.
I really do wonder how that might change a WHOLE lot of things!!
I really do wonder how that might change a WHOLE lot of things!!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
A Day in the Life...
Started to send this tonight by email just to a couple of my friends...but decided I laughed way too much writing it and then rereading and rereading it again not to share with the rest of you.
so Jen my sweet saint friend who has come out in the evenings to help me the past few nights since I've been sick, comes to knock on my door this evening with a tie dye kit in her hand a frazzled look on her face and a "is this toxic?" to which I replied, well heck I don't know and looked down to see a 4 year old Fernando with hot pink hands, hot pink lips...well you get the point. so I asked him...Fernando did you drink this?? NO. Fernando did you eat this?? NO. I said let me see your tongue, yep HOT PINK. I said Fernando your lips and your tongue are this color and pointed to the bottle did you drink this?? NO. Ohhhhhh really. I said Fernando your stomach is probably this color did you drink this. NO. Let's just say he's in training for failing every lie detector test ever given. So...I tried to call Gayle our doctor friend couldn't get through to her. Got ahold of Jen my friend the nurse who was taking her little girl to the potty in Wal Mart and I'm frantic wondering whether I have a child who has just drank poison and whether or not I should totally freak or not...and she's sounding a bit frantic herself as she's trying to talk to me and take her sweet little Abby to the bathroom...she told me she had no idea whether tie dye was toxic...why would she, I'm sure it's not every day your child drinks tie dye...we remind each other that we love each other and that I will call back sometime soon to talk but tonight ain't it...call some mom's I know can't get a hold of a single one, including mine...finally the poison control center dawns on me, it's an 800 number I can't call those from here on my phone...so I call my good friend Donna and I say somewhat in a panic hey can you do me a huge favor and call the poison control center for me, could tell she was thinking about saying what, why, what happened all those normal reaction questions and stopped herself and said sure, i gave her the number told her i'd call her back in a few minutes. called her back she said how old is he, how much did he drink, what kind of tie dye was it (I HAVE NO IDEA it's just here in some tie dye bottles), she tells the lady, the lady asks for my phone number tells donna she'll call me...donna tells me to call her back if I haven't heard from her in 3 minutes or so...so when I haven't heard from her in about 15 I call her back, Donna tells me that she has the country code wrong, she'll give it to her again and to call her back if I haven't heard from her and so I still haven't heard from her but in the meantime Gina Larios has talked to her parents who are doctors and she's called me back to tell me to give him lots of milk...so I head toward the showers with the girls. About the time they got their clothes off and stepped into the shower my phone rings and I don't have reception in the bathroom so I step back into their bedroom to talk to the poison control center lady who is extremely kind and katty and monica (the sisters) are waiting for me in the shower...i hear giggling never a good sign...hang up with the poison control center walk back into the bathroom and they have my conditioner all over the shower floor sliding in it everywhere and in the back corner of the shower is this other little pile that someone has deposited...known to all of us as "poo poo." To which I said, who poo poo'd in the shower? Monica looks up at me with this huge grin and says yo, which means ME. So they have not only conditioner all over them but Monica's diarrhea poo poo. ALL over them!! Have I mentioned that my stomach is weak in the first place but that I'm just getting over the yuck's...so we made it through, I cleaned them up and put them in bed and now that you have read about one hour of my evening, I hope your evenings seem so bountifully blessed to not have tie dyed tummies and poop conditioner showers. :):)
And even now...after this day in the life of Jen and her brood...I love them more than my life!! Crazy how that happens.
Blessings...
so Jen my sweet saint friend who has come out in the evenings to help me the past few nights since I've been sick, comes to knock on my door this evening with a tie dye kit in her hand a frazzled look on her face and a "is this toxic?" to which I replied, well heck I don't know and looked down to see a 4 year old Fernando with hot pink hands, hot pink lips...well you get the point. so I asked him...Fernando did you drink this?? NO. Fernando did you eat this?? NO. I said let me see your tongue, yep HOT PINK. I said Fernando your lips and your tongue are this color and pointed to the bottle did you drink this?? NO. Ohhhhhh really. I said Fernando your stomach is probably this color did you drink this. NO. Let's just say he's in training for failing every lie detector test ever given. So...I tried to call Gayle our doctor friend couldn't get through to her. Got ahold of Jen my friend the nurse who was taking her little girl to the potty in Wal Mart and I'm frantic wondering whether I have a child who has just drank poison and whether or not I should totally freak or not...and she's sounding a bit frantic herself as she's trying to talk to me and take her sweet little Abby to the bathroom...she told me she had no idea whether tie dye was toxic...why would she, I'm sure it's not every day your child drinks tie dye...we remind each other that we love each other and that I will call back sometime soon to talk but tonight ain't it...call some mom's I know can't get a hold of a single one, including mine...finally the poison control center dawns on me, it's an 800 number I can't call those from here on my phone...so I call my good friend Donna and I say somewhat in a panic hey can you do me a huge favor and call the poison control center for me, could tell she was thinking about saying what, why, what happened all those normal reaction questions and stopped herself and said sure, i gave her the number told her i'd call her back in a few minutes. called her back she said how old is he, how much did he drink, what kind of tie dye was it (I HAVE NO IDEA it's just here in some tie dye bottles), she tells the lady, the lady asks for my phone number tells donna she'll call me...donna tells me to call her back if I haven't heard from her in 3 minutes or so...so when I haven't heard from her in about 15 I call her back, Donna tells me that she has the country code wrong, she'll give it to her again and to call her back if I haven't heard from her and so I still haven't heard from her but in the meantime Gina Larios has talked to her parents who are doctors and she's called me back to tell me to give him lots of milk...so I head toward the showers with the girls. About the time they got their clothes off and stepped into the shower my phone rings and I don't have reception in the bathroom so I step back into their bedroom to talk to the poison control center lady who is extremely kind and katty and monica (the sisters) are waiting for me in the shower...i hear giggling never a good sign...hang up with the poison control center walk back into the bathroom and they have my conditioner all over the shower floor sliding in it everywhere and in the back corner of the shower is this other little pile that someone has deposited...known to all of us as "poo poo." To which I said, who poo poo'd in the shower? Monica looks up at me with this huge grin and says yo, which means ME. So they have not only conditioner all over them but Monica's diarrhea poo poo. ALL over them!! Have I mentioned that my stomach is weak in the first place but that I'm just getting over the yuck's...so we made it through, I cleaned them up and put them in bed and now that you have read about one hour of my evening, I hope your evenings seem so bountifully blessed to not have tie dyed tummies and poop conditioner showers. :):)
And even now...after this day in the life of Jen and her brood...I love them more than my life!! Crazy how that happens.
Blessings...
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